BURLINGTON — A Cavendish, Vt., man with a lengthy criminal history in Vermont who bolted out of the emergency room at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and drove off with an idling hospital shuttle van that was parked outside pleaded guilty to unlawfully possessing a gun in federal court in Burlington. 

Mitchell Horton, 37, was sentenced to 14 months in prison to be followed by a three-year term of supervised release after pleading guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont said in a news release.

Vermont State Police seized a .380 semi-automatic handgun from Horton when they arrested him and charged him with stealing diesel fuel in Cavendish in 2023.

Horton admitted to police that he had purchased the handgun from another person and acknowledged he was aware that he was prohibited from possessing a firearm, according to federal prosecutors. The prohibition was due to prior criminal convictions, in addition to being under indictment on a felony theft charge in New Hampshire.

At the time of the alleged fuel theft in Cavendish, Horton was out on bail after having been charged with stealing a shuttle van while it was idling outside the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Horton had been transported to DHMC for treatment of injuries he sustained during a day-long crime spree in 2022.

Horton currently has pending against him nine separate criminal cases in Vermont, all in Windsor County Superior Court, involving a total of 12 felony and seven misdemeanor charges between 2021 and 2023. The charges range from petit larceny, unlawful mischief and heroin possession to burglary, possessing a deadly weapon while committing a felony, eluding a law enforcement officer, operating a vehicle without owner’s consent and grand larceny.

He also is facing a felony theft charge in Grafton County Superior Court for the 2022 incident when he stole the DHMC shuttle van.

Horton’s federal sentence is to be served concurrently with any sentences imposed as the result of guilty convictions that arise from his respective state courts cases, according to the judgment order, which also imposes special conditions requiring him to participate in mental health and drug abuse treatment programs.

Although Horton was ordered placed into custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the federal court recommended that he remain incarcerated at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Vt., “for the proximity to family,” according to court documents.

That recommendation is subject to the outcome in Horton’s pending Windsor County cases, where the state court judge decides whether to accept the federal court judge’s recommendation, according to a spokesperson with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Burlington.

Contact John Lippman at jlippman@vnews.com.